Jatun Sacha, Ecuador

Hello all! How are you all doing? Thank you for all the messages you have left me on my board I am sorry I can't reply to them all cos it's quite expensive to use the internet! :( It sounds like you are having fun and I hope year 7 is going well. I like my mum as much as you all seem to!
I don't have anything very interesting to report as I was in the kitchen all day today from 5:00am this morning to 7:00pm tonight. I had to chop stuff and do lots of pot washing but I do have very nice soft hands now! We ate some "chiflas" which are fried bananas or plantains as they are also known but they are not sweet. It's amazing how many different things there are here that we don't have in England. We had no electricity for most of today and the phone line's still down but you get used to it and I have learned to adjust. I think I am learning to adapt to various situations and relax more. You can't let things like the electricity get to you here cos there's nothing we can do about it anyway. As I was telling you all last time about the oil companies, Alejo has lots of information about them and I am going to ask him if I can read it. When I get home I want to do more research into it.
I made a calander (I know I probably spelt that wrong!) today so I can keep track of the days and work out what I have to do when. I'm coming home 7 weeks today. I'm in Quito for 2 nights - not one night as I originally thought. I get there the 29th October but Gaby has sorted out a hostel and then I'll have to change hotels again the next day :( . I'm missing home a lot today but I think it's just cos it was quite boring. However I got to speak quite a lot of Spanish. Tomorrow I'm going into the forest with a guide so I will have more to report then. Today two of the girls saw a monkey - I'm soooooooooooooooo jealous! Anyways that's about all for now.
Rachel
xxxx